Dreams: By Tag: Recall

Thursday, January 03, 2008: Guitar jam

A coworker gave me a guitar. He had his own guitar. We jammed on a song. We were outside, in the woods. Blue sky and sun shone through the canopy.

I remember fingering particular chords and arpeggios, but I do not remember the song.

I had a similar dream not long ago.

Sunday, December 16, 2007: Murky

My recollection of my last dream is vague until the end. I seem to recall a struggle of words between several persons over reason versus religion. I also recall food. And the dream ended in the back yard of my childhood home. A pool of stagnant water lay beneath a canopy, and I disturbed the water with a stick.

Saturday, December 15, 2007: Sleep paralysis and seven other dreams

After falling asleep, I dreamed that I was lying in bed. The room was dark. The bedsheets were white. I could feel the dog lying on the bed at my feet, and my wife was lying to my left; I was turned on my side facing her. I could not move! I could not speak! I tried to wake up but I could not wake up. I could feel shapes sliding past me, shadows, nightmare thoughts, slipping past me, trying to emerge: a mouth, lips and teeth, fingertips. With great concentration, I moved my right hand over myself. I could feel it tingling, as if it were waking up. I tried to speak to my wife. Shelby, help me wake up! I repeated this over and over.

Finally, in real life, she woke me up. She said that she heard me while she was sleeping, asking her to help me. After sitting up with the lamp on for a few minutes, I returned to sleep.

I had a dream that I was investigating a cellar with my aunts Florence and Jeanne. It was dark, and made of old poured concrete. There was a door which we entered from the ground level. The cellar was cluttered with objects so covered with dust and cobwebs, I could not distinguish them. There were spiders and other insects crawling about. I kicked a piece of something, and silverfish crawled from under it. One spider was at least three feet across! At the other end of the cellar was a door, and stairs up to another door. Below the first door was a rectangular drop, without stairs, a ten foot cubic hollow with another door! I asked my aunts about it and they said they did not know where the door leads to. I considered how I would climb down to investigate

I had a dream that I was on a tour bus. The bus was full of people of all kinds. A group of children were sitting together. I told them the story of Jesus. When I concluded, one of them asked with astonishment if it was true. I laughed and said, no, it was not true.

I had a dream that my silky terrier was chasing rats around and bringing them back to me in his mouth. I felt worried that he would catch a disease from them. The rats he brought back had big teeth.

I had a dream that I was chewing something, and the teeth on the left side of my mouth crumbled to pieces. After, I inspected them, and they were all still intact.

I had a dream that I was walking up my street. An old high school friend, Brian, pulled over in a convertible and offered me a ride. I got in the car, and began to tell him everything that had happened since I saw him last.

I had a dream that I walked the dog outside, and it was warm. When I went back inside the house, the house felt cold. I mentioned this to my wife, and suggested we open the windows of the house to let in the warm air.

The last dream left me with only vague impressions of being at a party, and meeting a celebrity, but I can remember no details.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007: Beige Apartment, White Stairs

I had a dream that I was walking the halls of an apartment complex. The walls were brick uniformly painted beige. A couple called out to my friend William to join them, and I think he did join them. My remembrance of the dream at this point overlaps. I was living in an apartment here, a long narrow closet; I was no longer living in the apartment, and I was standing outside looking at the door.

In the second dream I had, I was outside, descending a steep white stair under the stars. I was surrounded by sophisticates on platforms along the stair, wearing ball gowns and tuxedos. The descent was so steep that I had to put down my possessions and climb down on my hands and knees. I met an old friend of mine, Garland, at the bottom of the stair.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007: Fragments

I can only recall fragments of dreams... a strange house with narrow stairs... living with my father, sister, brother, and my dog... somebody says, “You take the blue room.”... a red door... my brother and a friend are welding metal... climbing rocks near the ocean... neighbors doing drugs...

Sunday, December 03, 2006: Gathering, Sabotage, Flying, Restaurant

There was a gathering taking place. My friends were there; ex-church members were there, too. We were going to verbally dismantle the church. We rehearsed, but I cannot recall what we rehearsed.

Afterwards, I spoke with Will about our writing and gaming. We were pleased with our progress. We flipped through a book of pencil sketches of Lovecraftian subjects.

I drove a car into a parking lot late at night. I discovered that the other car tires had been flattened. No doubt it was church saboteurs. But my early discovery of this plot could be easily undone in time for our coup with the church.

Morning came, the sun lighting green leafy trees along a street. I saw a young black girl playing. As I walked down the street, I leaped into the air, and floated down. I repeated this several times, until I was able to stay aloft by flapping my arms. The young girl was amazed.

My wife and I got into a blue Dodge Charger. I needed to go to the bathroom, but I said that I could go at the restaurant. We drove to the restaurant. There were two restaurants, actually, both with crowded al fresco dining areas. One restaurant was called The Ghost in the something something. I cannot remember what the something was, but we guessed it was an Irish pub. We walked over to the other restaurant. I was barefoot, despite the cold. I thought that I should go back to the car to put on shoes, but I did not go back. Katherine Helmond was our waitress. We exclaimed, “Mona!” She seated us in a far corner, near the restrooms.

Thursday, November 09, 2006: Moonbat Frye

I picked up a folder and opened it. The folder contained the dossier of a dangerous, mischievous gnome by the name of Moonbat Frye. A picture was enclosed: he wore a dark blue and purple suit; he had a pointed white beard; he had a sly smile.

In a separate dream, I was standing in the cluttered ruins of a school playground. A predator was circling me. I cannot recall the identity of the predator. I think it was an animal. It crouched low as it circled.

In real life, the elementary school I attended as a child has been closed down, and may soon become a cluttered ruin.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006: Vermont Hostel

My wife and I were vacationing in Vermont. We entered a roadside shop that combined a general store, a diner, and a hostel. I inquired about a rest room, and the proprietor gestured towards the back. I stepped beyond a curtained doorway, and found a room with no furnishings except worn pillows, sleeping bags, and a hole in the floor for eliminating waste. There was vomit on the floor near the hole and near several sleeping bags. I imagined that a violently ill hiking party must have spent the night here. I quickly washed my hands, not wishing to catch whatever caused these hikers to be sick, and returned to the front of the store, nauseated.

Before the Vermont dream, I vaguely recall a dream where I am discussing, with an unknown party, The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins, and why I am an atheist.

Saturday, November 04, 2006: Game Room Preparations

My gaming friends were gathered in my house. My house appeared to be a mix of all of the apartments and houses I have lived in before. The windows in the large dining room needed repair. I pried nails out of the window frames that did not belong. There was a cold breeze blowing in through one window.

Will and I were discussing the short story I was writing. He said he could not determine the time period of the story. I said that detail was intentionally vague. I asked him if he knew where the story was set. He said he thought it was somewhere in the Middle East. I told him that was correct, and that is what I intended also.

We went to Musicquest, a music/comic/gaming store in our neighborhood. We flipped through RPG books.

We walked down Dartmouth Street, and came across a couple with three dogs: a large dog, a medium dog, and a small dog. The large dog appeared threatening and dangerous. The small dog appeared to be injured, as if somebody had stepped on it. We left the dogs quickly; it seemed like a bad situation.

Back at the apartment, I found two Stimpy keychains and two Stimpy plush toys near some stairs. An old church friend, Mike, appeared.

Separate from these dreams, I had a sex dream. My partner and I were trying to find a place to hide in a house full of people, so we hid in a pantry. Still, we found we couldn’t be alone for long.

Also separate from these dreams, I saw six elderly men sitting in chairs, waiting to dine in a restaurant. “Frickin’ fish,” one of them said. Another chided him, “Don’t say frickin’ fish.”

My dream frequency and recall is much better on the weekend, when I get to sleep longer.

Will and I both write and have discussed our writing in real life. The short story we were discussing is a story I am actually writing now.

There is a strong association with Mike and Stimpy; we were both big fans of The Ren & Stimpy Show.

My gaming group hasn’t gathered in a long time, and I do miss them. As I miss all of the places I have lived before.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006: Kramer Annoyed

Kramer, from the television show Seinfeld, seemed annoyed with me. As I wandered around his apartment, observing the cornucopia of his bizarre acquisitions and inventions, another man entered the apartment, and annoyed him more. I took this as an opportunity to make amends, and made a positive comment about the blueprint hanging on the wall. Kramer’s attitude towards me immediately lightened. He said that he wanted to be an architect. The blueprint resembled a layout of my childhood home.

More Seinfeld dreams!

I had a repetitive data entry dream, where I was entering numerous elements of a dream taxonomy into my laptop.

When I engage in repetitive activities while awake, I often dream about them. This past week, I have been backfilling the database behind this site with past dreams, as well as tagging them appropriately.

During the night, as I started to wake up, I realized that I was waking up, and dreamed that my memories of my prior dreams were swallowed up in a black balloon, floating away from me into darkness as I flailed blindly after its tether.

Again, I am having difficulty with dream recall. I think I am trying too hard.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006: Apology

I was sitting in a dimly lit room. Seated with me was a male figure, I think a friend of mine, and another figure whose gender I cannot recall. We were sitting on the edges of a square area of sunken wooden floor. I apologized to the male figure, it seemed, as a demonstration of amicability to the other figure.

Sometimes, I wake with only a fleeting recollection of what I have dreamed while I slept. Several factors influence my dream recall: quantity and quality of sleep, gradual or sudden awakening, bright lights or distracting noises. Lying in bed a few extra minutes, when I have the luxury, benefits my recall, while immediately getting up to walk the dog in morning sunlight will cause me forget.

This amnesia distresses me, and in my distress, I search my thoughts for the memories that are lost somewhere in my head. These forced searches do not usually work. When I have relaxed, and I am no longer thinking about my forgetfulness, and my thoughts are wandering, I sometimes stumble across a thread that leads me back to my dream.

When I woke this morning, I could not remember my dream. Gradually, I recaptured small details, but most of the dream is still lost somewhere in my head.

Sunday, October 08, 2006: Celebrity Secret, Vasectomy

Macaulay Culkin was hiding secret messages in his back teeth. He took a strip of paper from a sliding compartment inside a wooden board. He put the message inside one of his molars. Then he pulled a message out of another molar, and put it inside the board.

My wife and I were in a doctor’s office, discussing, first with a nurse, then with two doctors, the details and cost of a vasectomy. I could not actually bring myself to say the word.

I vaguely recall lying on a twin bed with my wife, in a dark basement. She had gained considerable weight. She mentioned that she was having her period. She was also acting frisky.

I also remember a brief recurring dream where I am going through a sequence of movements to get from point A to point B, but I cannot recall the details.

Friday, July 01, 2005: Childhood Home Changed, Guild Breakup

I was walking around a dilapidated apartment. I realized after a short time that it was my childhood home. Except for some small details that only I recognized, it was completely changed. This saddened me.

I also had a dream that my World of Warcraft guild broke up, or split up, which also made me sad.

Lately, I've been thinking about how I've gotten so far off from where I set out to be, years and years ago. Same house, but almost completely different.

I have noticed that my dream recall is improving again. The addition of a 2nd air conditioner must be helping me sleep more soundly. I can't stand the summer heat.

Friday, September 17, 2004: Snow, Gaming

My family was on the back porch looking at the yard. It was night, and apparently, a blizzard of wet snow had fallen. My wife tried to walk in the back yard, only to sink up to her waist in slushy snow. I thought to myself, “If there is this much wet snow, what does the basement look like!” I went to the hall and open the basement door. The basement was flooded and frozen up to the stairs. My wife asked, “What are we going to do?” I said to her, “Well, this is only a dream.”

In the other dream, I was in the kitchen of my house. My gaming group was gathered around a table. I was showing them the World’s Largest Dungeon book and maps. Some of them suggested using the Palladium Fantasy game system instead of the Dungeons and Dragons game system, which surprised me, because none of them have ever expressed an interest in that game system before. One of the players, Will, stood up, opened the door to the basement, and said, “Uh-oh, Rob, it wasn’t just a dream.” I looked into the basement, and it was flooded with slushy snow.

I don’t recall ever having a dream couplet like this, where the topic of dialog carries over into another.

Wednesday, September 15, 2004: Fragments

My dreams were fragmented so that I cannot recall any details beyond what I wrote when I woke up: gaming group, being lowered into a crowded stadium of yellow-clad baseball fans, and back to school.

In the dream I do remember, I was walking with my father in a mall. I ran into my boss, who showed my dad the latest gadget he had picked up.

Saturday, August 21, 2004: Dream Game

Here’s what I wrote on the notepad next to my bed:

“Dream of a dream of a dream game. Lethargy of sleep. My wife and I go to bed. I have a flashlight and a case of nerves. And low batteries. Multiplying corridors and doorways. Darker and darker. Lethargy sets in. I try to move, speak, wake up.”

“Church children leaving a sleepover with their parents.”

“Decide to run my dreams as role-playing game with my own gaming group.”

I can’t recall the dreams, only what I have written.